News

A corporate gifts company goes global to bring in web sales

July 8, 2014 01:13 PM

International business-to-business e-merchant GiftbasketsOverseas.com, which sells gift baskets online to more than 3000 corporate customers including NBCUniversal Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Stanley Black & Decker Inc., is expanding its reach in international markets as it racks up sharp increases in online sales.

It launched last week a German-language e-commerce site, making that its fourth foreign-language site along with sites in Spanish, French and Russian. It now operates five e-commerce sites in all, each with its own web address, including its English-language site at GiftBasketsOverseas.com.

The company also plans to soon launch a fifth foreign-language site, in Portuguese, and is considering two more sites, in Chinese and Arabic. Each of its foreign-language sites offers a “localized buying experience with language, currency settings and available payment methods designed for the particular audience,” says Dimitry Peregudov, chief gift officer.

The e-commerce company’s revenue, meanwhile, is on a strong growth track and expected to reach about $4 million this year, up about 36.5% from $2.93 million in 2013. The retailer delivers fruit baskets, flowers and personal or corporate gift baskets to customers in more than 180 countries.

Launched in 2008, the company has grown online sales by more than 600%, from $405,000 in 2009 to $2.93 million last year, Peregudov says.

Gift Baskets Overseas also offers customer service assistance for customers in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Russian, and German.

About 70% of the company’s total business is in B2B sales, Peregudov says, and most orders are placed from the U.S. to send to other countries. Earlier this year the company launched a B2B mobile site, which is currently only available in English. It also plans to release in 2015 a mobile app for consumers.

GiftBasketsOverseas.com corporate accounts also include brands such as Dell Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Walt Disney Co., which are ranked Nos. 10, 92 and 84, respectively, in the Internet Retailer Top 500, which ranks companies by the annual web sales.

GiftBasketsOverseas.com also offers drop-shipping services to other merchants who act as resellers of its products. Its drop-shippig clients pay a one-time fee of $100, then purchase gift baskets at a 20% discount and set their own retail prices.